SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – Four members of the Springfield Garden Club (SGC) attended the 90th Annual Meeting of the Federated Garden Clubs of Vermont (FGCV) on Tuesday, June 9: Adrienne Faulhauber, SGC president; Therese Burton, FGCV central district codirector; Karen Vatne, SGC awards committee chair; and Marita Johnson, who received a special award.
The meeting was held in the beautiful city of Saint Albans, Vt., at the Saint Albans Museum, the former Church Street Academy, built in 1861. It was hosted by the Saint Albans Garden Club, and the event was decorated with vases of fragrant pink peonies and baskets of pansies. A tour of Taylor Park followed.
The SGC received four first-place awards and three merit awards. The first-place awards were for Yearbook, Window Boxes and Containers, and Garden Therapy for their work at Meals on Wheels and the Adult Day Program. The fourth first-place award, for an Individual Within a Club Who Maintains a Fabulous Garden, went to Marita Johnson, for her iris garden that she has been developing and maintaining for almost 50 years. She shares her iris garden and iris labyrinth, which she designed and built on top of a bed of moss, with the public every year. The merit awards were for Best Ongoing Project, for the six garden areas around town that SGC maintains; Education – Club Program, for the OLLI/SGC cosponsored talk by Kevin Gardner on stone walls; and a Youth – Young Gardeners Award, for their work with students at Union Street Elementary School.
More information about the SGC can be found at www.springfieldgardenclub.org, and on its Facebook page, “Springfield Garden Club of Vermont.” More information about the FGCV can be found at its website, www.vermontfgcv.com.